


A Single Day

by thebluewolf



Category: Dreamcatcher (Korea Band)
Genre: Adventure, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Magic, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-04
Updated: 2021-03-04
Packaged: 2021-03-13 05:20:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29646360
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thebluewolf/pseuds/thebluewolf
Summary: A small look into a retired master alchemist's life as they travel together with their young apprentice.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 5





	A Single Day

My name is Siyeon ‘Theory’ Epoque. I am an alchemist that’s traveling the world leisurely without much of a set goal. It is quite ridiculous that I don’t have a clear objective but I just didn’t want to stay in that kingdom any longer. So I decided to pack up everything and do some sightseeing.

Alongside me, there’s an energetic child with much promise in her future. Her name is Gahyeon and she’s my apprentice that is learning alchemy and herbology with overflowing enthusiasm. Though she’s eager to learn, it is at the point that she could become obsessed with learning. 

All I’ve heard from her everyday in the five years that she’s been under my tutelage was “tell me more about this plant,” or “can I start learning recipes yet,” and it’s gotten quite terrifying to hear. 

Looking at her now, she's grown up to be very responsible. Gahyeon takes good care of herself and manages tasks well. I feel proud whenever I'd look at her.

However, she’s also proven to me that she only heeds the words that she wants to hear and ignore the rest of it, so as of now, I still need to keep an eye on her lest she gets herself into trouble.

"Teacher, it's getting dark. Should we set up camp now?" 

We've been walking nonstop today and my mind began to wander. Since we are on our way to a large city called Maelstrom to sell potions and gather information, we traveled westward for five days and are still not even close to the destination. 

Hearing what my apprentice said, I directed my sight to the skies and indeed the sky’s color turned twilight.

"Let's find a good spot to camp."

I swiftly began searching for a proper place to camp while Gahyeon trailed behind me gathering fallen branches. A few minutes later, I found a nice flat ground to pitch our tent.

Gahyeon neatly piles the branches in the middle of the area, leaving a few sturdier branches by the side before she goes to pitch our tent. I then get to doing the remaining steps for our camp. I raise my right hand to create a fire ring with earth magic to contain the campfire before setting the wood ablaze with a snap of my fingers. 

Being able to use magic certainly makes things convenient, fire magic for cooking, water magic for washing, wind magic for drying and daily life becomes comfortable.

Considering that magic is so versatile, I’ve been teaching Gahyeon the basics. As of now, Gahyeon is able to safely and perfectly start fires. Which is why I am thinking of teaching her to handle water magic. With her learning so fast, it makes me very proud of her.

“I’m done with the tent. What are we having for dinner tonight, teacher.”

Checking through the two sacks of foods, I found two pieces of bread left among the vegetables and grains. I think that it’s best to save them for another time so I retrieve two kinds of vegetables, carrots and corn, from the sack.

“We’re out of meat and bread so how about some vegetable porridge?”

“We even ran out of bread?!”

“That’s right. Hopefully we can restock on supplies soon.”

“But, isn’t Maelstrom still a week away?”

One week till we arrive at the next city. That’s certainly not a good situation for us as the supplies we bought at the previous destination didn’t last as long as I hoped.

Gahyeon fed some of the dried meat to a starving volf pup and I gave away some bread to a traveling peddler that got lost. These things happen in life and we chose to help those in need, so we have to be responsible for our own actions. 

I hand the carrots and corn over to Gahyeon so that she could practice her water magic by cleaning them while I retrieve a metal pot from my ‘item box’ to fill it with water for washing the grains.

Every time I pull out what I need from my item box, I feel grateful for it. Being able to carry whatever I need for my travels makes my back hurt less than those adventurers with smaller item boxes that have to carry their own luggage. 

Though I have to be careful with it as my item box has it’s cons too. Since mine has a capacity that’s significantly larger than what others have, keeping all our gear and supplies inside it would make people we come across be suspicious of us traveling without luggage. And it’s better to avoid such situations as there are people out there that want to take advantage of those with bigger item boxes.

After I’m done washing the grains, I drain the water into a hole I made in the ground before refilling the pot with water. Gahyeon returns with the vegetables, all clean and nicely cut, placing them into the pot. I then create a pot hanger with the sturdier branches that Gahyeon placed aside and hang the pot over the fire.

We then sit on opposite sides of the fire, waiting for dinner to be cooked. Gahyeon hums to herself as she warms herself with the fire. I bring out two wooden bowls and spoons via the item box while keeping an eye on the porridge. 

“Let’s go hunting tomorrow.”

“Won’t that delay our travels, teacher?”

“It would but at least we wouldn’t have to worry about meat for the rest of the journey.”

“Can we go fishing too? I want to eat fish.”

“Of course, but we have to find a river.”

“Yay! I can’t wait for tomorrow! We don’t hunt very much.”

“Because it’s dangerous.”

“Teacher says that every time.”

“And you should listen to what your teacher says.”

Gahyeon pouts after that last exchange and gets up, walking over to the tent and reaches in for her rucksack. She returns and sits down with a huff. I shake my head at her behaviour. My hopes that she will understand that there are some things that she can’t handle yet are always shattered.

Anyways, I check on the porridge and it seems that it’s a few more minutes away from being done so I pull out a small sack from the pouch on my waist to add some seasoning to the porridge. 

After the salt is added, I stir the contents of the pot by manipulating the liquid with water magic for even flavoring. Sitting back down, I look over to Gahyeon again. She’s now sorting the herbs that she picked along the way today. Well at least she’s still diligent with that aspect.

Dinner is done before Gahyeon finishes her task but I know better than to interrupt her so I only served myself the hot porridge. I carefully blow on the piping hot porridge before putting the spoonful in my mouth. Humming satisfyingly, even though it’s a simple meal, it still tastes good.

Gahyeon packs up the herbs and serves herself a bowl as well. She doesn’t seem upset anymore but rather she looks tired. I should clean up for today so that Gahyeon can get more rest for hunting tomorrow. 

We finish our meals in a comfortable silence and I tell Gahyeon to get ready for bed. She didn’t argue with me to clean the bowls and pot so she must be really tired. But when I took a peek into the tent after clearing up, I saw her cleaning her dagger for tomorrow. 

I decided to not say anything and return to the campfire. Seems like she’s looking forward to tomorrow very much. I smile to myself as I add more wood to the fire. I’m often the one keeping watch when we camp since I am able to sleep while using magic to keep track of our surroundings and I’ll be able to react as soon as my magic senses danger. 

It’s a little while before I fall asleep because I wanted to do some stargazing. Looking at the night sky is one of my favorite things, it makes me feel calm and the glow of the moon eases the aches in my body. With the gentle lull of the moonlight, I fall asleep beside the dancing fire.


End file.
